Jaan Uhelszki's Most Recent Stories

David Bowie has never been afraid of a little controversy, so it
comes as little surprise that the renaissance man, who sits on the
editorial board of Modern Painters and is a co-owner of
the art book purveyor 21 Publishing, has agreed to host the
Brooklyn Museum of Art’s exhibition of Sensation: Young British
Artists From the Saatchi Collection on his BowieNet Web site
beginning Oct. 2.

News of Bowie’s participation comes amid threats from New York’s
Mayor Rudy Giuliani to pull the city’s $7.2 million dollar funding
from the museum it doesn’t cancel the exhibit. In fact, Bowie
printed some of the more salacious articles about the exhibit on
BowieNet, including a pointed barb from the Catholic League for
Religious and Civil Rights which charged: “I know of no other
enterprise, profession, or industry that allows as many frauds to
perpetrate on it than the artistic community. No wonder Hitler was
accepted as an artist. All he had to do was proclaim himself one
and that was enough for creative types to welcome him.”

What has everybody up in arms is a painting of the Virgin Mary by
African artist Chris Ofili called “The Holy Virgin Mary” that
incorporates elephant dung and cutouts from pornographic magazines.
Other works, including images of animals being mutilated and sliced
in half, are also contributing to the furor. “The work by Chris
Ofili and the others is probably the most important showing since
the Armory Show at the opening of the century,” Bowie said in a
statement. “It’s definitely going to be as talked about.”

According to the Thin White Duke’s reps, Bowie is such a fan of the
Saatchi Collection that he approached the museum months ago and
asked to be an official sponsor the show. (He even paid for that
privilege). He also recorded an audio tour narration for the
141-piece show. There’s no official word whether Bowie and Iman
will show up for tonight’s gala celebrating the show, but his reps
are leaving the door open. “He’s in town, because he’s rehearsing
for his appearance on Saturday Night Live, so we don’t
know until the last minute, but there’s a very good chance Bowie
will be there.”